LJWorld.com

The debate surrounding the American Eagle Outfitters project last year wasn't fatal to Lawrence's reputation among economic development professionals. But one more controversy like it certainly could be, the state's top commerce official said Thursday.

In a closed-door meeting with area leaders, Lt. Gov. Gary Sherrer, also Kansas' secretary of commerce, said the community needs to work hard to develop a plan for what type of future economic development it wants.

The media and public were not allowed to attend the morning meeting sponsored by the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, but Sherrer shared his comments with the Journal-World later in the day.

"There was nothing fatal about the American Eagle situation," Sherrer said. "Sometimes these things happen. But you certainly wouldn't want to repeat it because then the national economic development community would sense a pattern, and that is trouble."

American Eagle Outfitters eventually decided to build its distribution center in Ottawa rather than Lawrence after controversy arose over proposed tax abatements for the company and the wages it was slated to pay its employees.

"It was the wrong signal to send," Sherrer said of the controversy. "I'm not saying Lawrence should have accepted that business, but I'm saying if the community doesn't want that type of business, it needs to decide that at the front end, not at the end of the process."

Lawrence Mayor Mike Rundle was among those invited to the meeting and said he believed Lawrence was moving in the right direction.

"With the creation of ECO2 and with the economic development board trying to update its plan, I think we're doing some very positive things," Rundle said. "We're trying to sit down and get a plan and a focus that we all agree on, and then this talk about image will be a ghost of the past and something we can all chuckle about."

Sherrer also told the crowd the uncompleted South Lawrence Trafficway project has the potential to send bad signals to businesses looking to locate in the county.

"When a community doesn't seem to have the ability after a long, drawn-out time to resolve an issue, regardless of the resolution, that is just not a message you want to send," Sherrer said.

Bill Sepic, president of the Lawrence chamber, said he agreed with some of Sherrer's "constructive criticism" but said he also thought the community was on a path to solving issues that had created controversy in the past.

As for the reason for the closing the meeting to the press and the public, Sepic said he made that decision in hopes of allowing Sherrer and others to be more candid.

Sherrer said it was unnecessary.

"I've never had a problem being candid," Sherrer said. "I didn't say anything I wouldn't say to the local Rotary Club."